The ‘Industry’ Story By Jackson Wickham – August 2nd 2014 By 1909 the old P.S. Industry was a bit past her used by date and was in desperate need of a replacement. She was built at Swanport as a barge in 1876 measuring 98.8 ft. (30.114 metres) long, 15.3 ft. (4.663 metre) wide and had a draught of 5.9 ft. (1.798 metres) and converted to a paddle steamer in 1878. She was sold to the S.A. Government in 1887 (the same year Renmark was founded) and was used as a snagging steamer until 1909 when she was finally de-commissioned and sold for ₤60 ($108) to the Gem Navigation Co. who used her as a store at Morgan for a little while until she was broken up in 1911. When the ‘Old Industry’ was de-commissioned the Engineer-in-chief (Graham Stewart*) drew up some plans for a new vessel, which was very similar, but slightly wider than the ‘Old Industry’. *Graham Stewart was appointed Engineer-in-chief in June 1909. Captain George Grundy, skipper of the ‘Old Industry’ and some Government officials took a short trip to Echuca to inspect the vessels under construction on the slips at Echuca and Moama (which possibly included the ‘Mascotte’ barge, now known as the famous P.S. Pevensey) and on returning to Goolwa the S.A. Government received a letter from Mr. A. J. Inches (a naval architect from Echuca) who offered to draw up the new vessel’s hull for ₤1300 ($2,348) or the entire vessel, complete, for ₤6270 ($11,326) and a further ₤100 ($180) if it was to be constructed at Goolwa rather than Echuca because of the need to shift his work to ‘the other end of the river’ so to speak. -The Government jumped at the offer as it was a lot less than the other offers of the Mannum Dock amongst other places. Inches was awarded the contract on September 6th 1909, and he began to design the new vessel in conjunction with Captain Grundy. While the vessel was being built the Government had hired the use of the P.S. Dispatch to be used as the Government’s work boat. In ‘The Southern Argus’ on Thursday, January 20th, 1910 a report said: “Messrs. Wilson & Son have started to build the Government Steamer ‘Industry’” Also in the same article it reported that Skipper G. Grundy and the P.S. Dispatch were steaming to the Boundary where work would be resumed. In February 1910 Mr. Schell was left in command of the P.S. Dispatch at Hart’s Island near Waikerie while Captain Grundy went to Goolwa to inspect the work being carried out on the new ‘Industry’ .On February 18th, 1910 in the ‘Renmark Pioneer’ (now Murray Pioneer) it said that the barges ‘Mallara’ and ‘Moorara’ were transporting building materials down from Echuca to Goolwa for the building of the new P.S. Industry. (The ‘Mallara’ and the ‘Moorara’ are also the ‘Industry’s’ twin sisters as they were designed by A. J. Inches and built at Echuca in 1909 and 1910.) By July the vessel was becoming well advanced reported ‘The Advertiser’ as the vessels hull was now pretty-well finished and was ready for launching within a month. The engines had been ordered and were being built in Bendigo by A. Roberts & Sons, who also built the first boiler. Finally on August the 6th, 1910 the vessel was prepared for launch with a large amount of people coming down to the slipway to witness this. Miss Ritchie (daughter of Mr. George Ritchie) was to do the honours and launch the vessel around midday. The hull was a composite type, meaning iron topsides and, in the case of the ‘Industry’, Jarrah bottom under the waterline. Angle iron frames, jarrah floors, kauri decks, a clamped iron stem and jarrah sternpost with the unusual feature of an aperture in the stern peak for a propeller in the case of it ever being needed after the river was locked (of course this didn’t ever eventuate). The engines are high-pressure, 30hp direct-drive steam engines with a 13 inch cylinder head. Powered by a locomotive boiler and with an attachment of an electric generator, oil powered, for the electric lighting (which I believe was removed along with the first boiler in 1933) The vessel was launched at 1:30pm on Saturday, August 6th, 1910. When launched the vessel went so easily into the water that nobody noticed it was moving until it was half-way down the slipway. Three cheers were given for her as she glided into the water with dignitaries such as the South Australian Premier, Mr. John Verran, who had only been Premier for just over 2 months prior to the launch on board. Once the ‘Industry’ had been launched the vessel was moored along the Goolwa Wharf, about 500 metres downstream (or as most people would know it today, ‘the other side of the Hindmarsh bridge.) Where the superstructure was constructed by Mr. Newman under Captain Grundy’s supervision. -Most thanks however must go to Mr. George B. Wilson and Mr. Billy Hodge, the shipwright and carpenter who constructed the hull, cabins 7 & 8 as well as the paddle boxes and were masters at this work as ‘they spared no pains in constructing the vessel’ – Happy 104th Industry and all the best for the next 104 years! -Jackson
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 23:52:51 +0000
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